I envy you :) I've been searching for Arabica seeds for over a year. Can you please tell me where you bought your plants? It's so hard to find any good info on them. Good luck with yours. Thank you.

Can't remember...it was five years ago. I searched the web for "coffee plants" and found a place in South Carolina or Georgia IIRC. Bought a key lime at the same time. I don't know if it's arabica or robusta....it was just "coffee".

More research revealed that coffee blossoms are self-pollinating. I was afraid it might need some obscure insect species. Still haven't seen any luna moths visiting the moon flowers....

Cheers

I've tried ordering from 3 companies and they are sold out! What zone are you in? How tall are your plants now? Sorry for all of the questions but its hard to find someone that is actually growing coffee. I read that a few grow within a few hundred miles from me.I'm trying to grow tropical things since I live in the right zone for it. Thank you for taking the time to chat with me. Christine

I'm in 8A...coastal Virginia.

As soon as the danger of frost is past, these plants go outside, under the high shade of a pine tree that is well-trimmed. The plants get full morning and afternoon sun, but not during mid-day.

The plants are about five feet now. It seems that the nursery just dropped a handful of seeds in a hole - and almost all sprouted. I received pots with a dozen or more sprouts. Many were trimmed out when received, and since there was no viable way to separate the roots, some plants were squeezed out by their more energetic bretheren. Each pot has two or three stems now.

Coffee needs a loose, quick-draining medium. (Think of the volcanic soils of Hawaii....) So I used plenty of perlite in the mix. The plants also need even moisture (again, think Hawaii....) so they get watered twice as frequently as everything else in the greenhouse.

I've got a half-dozen seeds that have been sitting in a shot glass in the kitchen. They were "wet processed" to get rid of the pulp and seed coat of the coffee cherries, but it's not enough even for a half-cup if roasted. So I'll try an experiment: plant some and see if they sprout. If it works, you can have a couple, 'cause it looks like I may actually get a crop this year.

Cheers

Wow..so they grow about a foot a year and take a few years to produce. I like that they are self pollinating. That's a plus. Keeping my fingers crossed that your sprouting experiment works. Please keep me posted on how it goes. Thank you for your info and offer. I really appreciate it.

Hi apg4, I strongly recomend you get a foliar analysis done to check nutrient levels in the plants. contact your county extension agency for info on how to take/where to send a sample of leaves. U of Hawaii has lots of info on growing coffee. good luck, Jim

Hi apg4, just checking in to see how your plant is doing and to see if you tried to germinate the seeds you had and how it went for you. I'm still trying like crazy to find some fresh seeds. The local nursery had some small plants but they had a sold sign on them. I guess I could order plants online but its alot more fun growing from seed :) Thanks~ Christine

Christine,

They are likely not viable anymore but I have a few seeds that are a year and a half old that I can send you. I planted 8 when I originally got them and was 7/8 for germination. I'm not sure how many I have but maybe one is still viable? I germinated them with the wet paper towel in a sandwich bag method. They all got a black mildew on them and took something like 2-3 months to germinate, which I hear is typical.

Ryan

I've grown them to small tree's in a warm greenhouse. The only possible pollinator might have been gnats or ants...but no need for Bee's.
I also have a trial of a seedling Coffee plants I bought going on 3 summers now outdoors. From those its about a foot tall in the SF bay area,and hasn't shown any problems handling winters..including a couple of 31f and a 28f last December. I can tell you - they need much water and fertilizers outdoors. But still,as you can see,growth is much slower out of the tropics and subtropics. I'm waiting for it to put on a REAL growth spurt. Could be this year..or not.

You can always go to the Big Island when the "Cherries" are in season. I brought a handful back to Houston. Long germination period but 100% sprouted. Unfortunately the cover blew off my plants this winter. They froze and totally died. ::

Houstonpat, please contact me at tropicalgardener@gmail.com I used to live in Austin, but now live in Puerto Rico, I can send u a list trade all the time via regular US mail same rates Frank :)

An update.... Each year I bring the coffee plants into to the sunshed, they sulk and drop a bunch of leaves. Not everybody can have a front-row seat in the sun.... So I added two, twin 48" long, high-output T-5 fixtures and the coffee plants went nutz. Lots of new growth and about a month ago, the plants were covered in blossoms. Jasmine-looking blooms with a delicate scent somewhere between citrus and orchid. But I've had a second flush of blooms, even more prolific than the first! (I'll see if I can post a photo, but by older digital camera and new laptop don't play well together. Win 8.1 sux....)

Still haven't figured out how to roast last year's harvest without breaking the bank buying a roaster. This year's harvest might justify that.

Cheers

apg4 an old style hand cranked popcorn popper works well for small batches. roast outside unless you don't mind the smoke. Jim

Another update...I've had five separate 'flushes' of flowers on the coffee plants and now that they are outside, they are getting ready to blossom again. I'm pretty sure that coffee blossoms are self-polinating. Very heavy fruit set from earlier blossoming to the point where I don't know if the plants can support that much fruit. Should be a bountiful harvest...whenever that might be....

I did accidentally 'roast' some. I harvested a few cherries that escaped earlier notice. After processing, I let them dry for a few days, but put 'em in the toaster oven to speed the process...and promptly forgot about 'em. They came out a perfect "dark roast".... Ground 'em, and brewed a small cup. Tasted just like Folgers.... :-(

I was hoping for something a bit more....

Cheers

Sure would like some seeds...

Hirt's sells live coffee plants on line through Amazon, why bother with the seed. I tried seed a couple of years ago, nothing came up even though I waited to plant them in June.